What this is about: Watching all of the anime shows so you don’t have to! For more information about me and my reviews, click here for details on what I am reviewing.

Series Premise: [C]: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control is a weekly televised anime series started in April 2011, an original story aired as part of Fuji TV’s Noitamina animation block. Kimimaro can only dream of a financially-stable life, when he is offered the opportunity by a mysterious trickster to enter the fabled Financial District, mortgaging his future as collateral to compete in tournaments where his very future is on the line.

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Quick Episode Summary: The shit hits the fan as the economy sours. With the Financial District under stress, that is affecting Japan as it suddenly falls into depression, with people disappearing, activity declining and people acting listless and lethargic. In protest, Kimimaro ends up burning up a bunch of his own money. As the nearby Southeast Asia Financial District goes under, Mikuni and his allies prepare to put “Plan C” into operation as a last resort.

My Impressions: Sorry I’ve been distracted with other hobbies, so my reviews have been falling further behind. But as I’ve expressed elsewhere, I really don’t care very much how far behind I am, I’m going to take my own sweet time at this, because rushing it would lessen the enjoyment. There’s plenty of blogs that put out reviews within the same week as when the show aired…this isn’t one of them.

But even that being said, a little bit of brevity can’t hurt to get the ball rolling, so I’m spending less time typing and more time watching.

So, cutting to the quick: Finally, after what seems like the longest setup, we are getting to the heart of the series with what appears to be the buildup to the climax. (Or maybe it just seems like forever because that’s how long I’m taking to watch it, eh?) And hey, waddayaknow, it’s turning into one big mind-screw!

What is reality, anyway? So you thought that the world of Japan that Kimimaro was reality, and the Financial District was the fantasy land? Looks like it is much more complicated than that, as whole swaths of people, entire buildings, and ultimately entire countries end up disappearing as Financial Districts go bankrupt. Shades of the Matrix? Or more accurately, shades of Dark City? I’m not sure which “reality” is affecting the other at this point, hence mind-screw.

But the effect is clear as the very future of Japan and its people are in mortal danger, forcing the Starling Guild’s hand prematurely as they plan to invoke the cryptic “Plan C”. Our little rebel hero, Mr. Plain Vanilla Protagonist, on the other hand, decides to check out of the monetary rat-race by publicly burning up his stash of money. Not sure what he thinks that will accomplish, other than as a show of protest, a la “mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”. Furthermore, the relationship between him and Mysu gets even more muddled as an unexpected flashback scene goes back to her “birth”…just a teaser, I suppose, to even more mysteries on the next few episodes.

In any case, strap in an get ready for a wild ride as the final few episodes unfold.

“The biggest flaw of this series is still that none of the econbabble makes any sense. The actual workings of the financial districts remain a black box (i.e., why do they run out of money?) and I doubt that this will be addressed at all. Furthermore, all the philosophical debates about “future” vs “present” are rather silly and pointless in my opinion. I really hope that the ending of this show doesn’t have Kimimaro and Mashu shouting “I believe in the future!” and destroying the financial district with the power of trust. I’m concerned because I can actually picture this happening.” – Draggle’s Anime Blog

“Of course there are supernatural forces at play here that we the audience may not be fully aware of, but still…this twist was a bit outlandish for me.” – Emory Anime Club

“While I’m still not finding Kimimaro to be all that engaging of a character, the rest of the series has some big positives to it that you would want to see worked out in even more detail to tell a truly terrifying story with a lot of drama. What’s here is definitely a lot of fun and unsettling though and very much worth the time and effort to watch.” – The Fandom Post